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Biennial Report 2004 2005 Published in Spain by the ISAAC NEWTON GROUP of TELESCOPES (ING) ISSN 1575–8966 Legal License: TF–1142 /99

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Biennial Report 2004 2005 Published in Spain by the ISAAC NEWTON GROUP of TELESCOPES (ING) ISSN 1575–8966 Legal License: TF–1142 /99 I SAAC N EWTON G ROUP OF T ELESCOPES Biennial Report 2004 2005 Published in Spain by the ISAAC NEWTON GROUP OF TELESCOPES (ING) ISSN 1575–8966 Legal license: TF–1142 /99 Apartado de correos, 321 E-38700 Santa Cruz de La Palma; Canary Islands; Spain Tel: +34 922 425 400 Fax: +34 922 425 401 URL: http://www.ing.iac.es/; http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/ING/ (UK mirror) Editor and designer: Javier Méndez ([email protected]) Preprinting: Gráficas El Time. Tel: +34 922 416 651 Printing: Gráficas Sabater. Tel: +34 922 623 555 Front cover: IC1396 or the Elephant Trunk Nebula. Image obtained as part of the Isaac Newton Telescope Photometric Hα Survey of the Northen Galactic Plane, and it was prepared by Nick Wright, University College London. Inset: Photograph of laser test on the William Herschel Telescope as part of GLAS preparatory study. Credit: Javier Méndez. Other picture credits: Nik Szymanek (WHT, p. 4); Nik Szymanek (INT, p. 4); Nik Szymanek (JKT, p. 4); Nik Szymanek (ING, p. 5); Jens Moser (WHT, back); Jens Moser (INT, back); Nik Szymanek (JKT, back). The ING Biennial Report is available online at http://www.ing.iac.es/PR/AR/ or at http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/ING/PR/AR/. ISAAC NEWTON GROUP OF TELESCOPES Biennial Report of the PPARC-NWO-IAC ING Board 2004 – 2005 ISAAC NEWTON GROUP William Herschel Telescope Isaac Newton Telescope Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope 4 • ING BIENNIAL R EPORT 2004–2005 OF TELESCOPES The Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes (ING) consists of the 4.2- metre William Herschel Telescope (WHT), the 2.5-metre Isaac Newton Telescope (INT) and the 1.0-metre Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope (JKT). The ING is located 2350 metres above sea level at the Roque de Los Muchachos Observatory (ORM) on the island of La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain. The WHT is the largest telescope of its kind in Western Europe. The construction, operation, and development of the ING telescopes is the result of a collaboration between the United Kingdom, The Netherlands and Spain. The site is provided by Spain, and in return Spanish astronomers receive 20 per cent of the observing time on the telescopes. The operation of the site is overseen by an International Scientific Committee, or Comité Científico Internacional (CCI). A further 75 per cent of the observing time is shared by the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and the Spanish Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias. The remaining 5 per cent is reserved for large scientific projects to promote international collaboration between institutions of the CCI member countries. The ING operates the telescopes on behalf of the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC) of the United Kingdom, the Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO) of The Netherlands and the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) of Spain. The Roque de Los Muchachos Observatory, which is the principal European northern hemisphere observatory, is operated by the IAC. ING BIENNIAL R EPORT 2004–2005 • 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword . 8 Introduction . 9 Chapters 1. Scientific Highlights . 10 2. Operation, Maintenance and Developments . 31 3. Use of Observing Time and Scientific Productivity . 37 4. In-House Research . 41 5. Public Relations . 47 Appendices A. The Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes . 49 B. Telescope Instrumentation . 52 C. Staff Organisation . .53 D. Telescope Time Awards . 55 E. ING Bibliography . 64 F. Astronomy Staff Research Publications . .79 G. Seminars . 86 H. Financial Statement . 87 I. Committee Membership . 88 J. Addresses and Contacts . 89 K. Acronyms and Abbreviations . 90 ING BIENNIAL R EPORT 2004–2005 • 7 FOREWORD It is a pleasure to write this foreword to the 2004-2005 Biennial Report of the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes, on behalf of the ING Board. The period 2004-2005 marks a new phase for the ING. The restructuring of the organization, prompted by a reduction in the level of funding, was completed in this period and at the end of this period the ING underwent a major review with a very positive outcome. These two aspects mark this period very well: despite the restructuring the ING has been able to maintain and develop a world class observatory with facilities that are high in demand and produce excellent science. The Board is very impressed with these accomplishments Prof. Thijs van der Hulst and wants to compliment the entire ING staff for carrying the observatory through harsh times in such an Chair of the ING Board effective way. The participation of the IAC in the ING was very important for maintaining the funding of the ING at an appropriate level. In my opinion it has accomplished even more. It resulted in a more intensive collaboration between the different ING partners, which will prove to be invaluable for the future of the observatory at the Roque de Los Muchachos. The past two years have been very productive from a scientific point of view. LIRIS, the near infrared imager/spectrograph designed and built by the IAC for the WHT, was commissioned successfully and has done exciting first science. As part of the NASA Deep Impact campaign it observed the collision between an impactor probe and the nucleus of comet 9P/Tempel1. Another new WHT instrument, OASIS, opened the area of high spatial-resolution imaging-spectroscopy. In combination with NAOMI, the adaptive optics system, it provides a unique capability for a wide range of interesting problems, ranging from the dynamics in the very centers of galaxies to spectroscopy of individual stars in star clusters or crowded regions. The laser guide star system that is now put together will open up the entire northern sky for AO assisted spectroscopy and imaging and bring to fruition a technical and science area that will prove to be very interesting and strategically important for both the ING and its communities. But there was more: the demand for visiting instruments, all producing high quality science, remains higher than can be accommodated. The review panel recognized that the WHT is one of the few 4-m class telescopes that accommodates visiting instruments and considered this a very strong aspect in many respects: it produces excellent science and it maintains high quality instrument development within the community. The suite is quite impressive: PN.S, CIRPASS, INTEGRAL, SAURON, PLANETPOL and others to come. The INT, now operational in a single instrument mode, as was the JKT before its retirement, continues to entertain excellent projects. Highlights are charting the environs of the Local Group galaxies Messier 31 and Messier 33 to unprecedented deep levels, the jet driven ring around Cygnus X-1 and the rings around planetary nebulae reflecting the mass loss history of the dying stellar precursor. The Board started focusing its attention on the future of the ING past 2009 when the present contracts between the funding agencies NWO, PPARC and the IAC terminate. The high potential of the ING, in particular the WHT, is widely recognized. The ING community and the review panel have already made this clear, and we expect the funding agencies to come with positive formal statements soon. The pressure on funding in the presently participating countries is high and resources need to be shared with a several new initiatives in the realm of future large facilities. Yet the Board hopes, with the community that the funding agencies have the insight that maintaining a world class facility, even though consisting of modest size telescopes by modern standards, is crucial for the health of its scientific community. 8 • ING BIENNIAL R EPORT 2004–2005 INTRODUCTION Welcome to the biennial report of the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes for the years 2004 and 2005. The dynamics and excitement of astronomy have certainly been felt at the observatory during the last two years. As you can read in this report many scientific highlights passed the scene and important technical advances were made. This report provides an overview of the main events and summarizes the financial status and scientific output of the telescopes. The successes and achievements over the period covered by this report have only been possible thanks to the continued quality efforts of ING staff, who have shown a high level of commitment and professionalism through uncertain and sometimes difficult times. It is now some thirty years ago that La Palma was being explored as a potential location for a new observatory Dr. René Rutten in the Northern hemisphere. That choice has most certainly paid off in scientific terms. The site testing Director of ING equipment in those days was not so sophisticated to today’s standards and the circumstances under which the work was conducted were rather primitive. The pictures below (courtesy of site tester Thomas Gough) give an impression of the situation. Although the observatory is now well established, characterization of the observing site continues and is even stepping up pace with the advent of adaptive optics, the construction of very large telescopes such as the 10m GTC, and the possibility of construction of a future Extremely Large Telescope. In the early days analysis of star trails and of sparse meteorological measurements were the basis for initiating the observatory; now we possess an arsenal of additional tool such as DIMM, MASS, SLODAR, and remote sensing to help us decide on the quality of the atmosphere. But what remains the same is the finding that La Palma is one of the very best observing sites in the World. The reporting years saw also intense activity on growing European collaboration between observatories in which ING was strongly involved. Under the umbrella of OPTICON a large programme to promote trans- national access to telescopes was initiated.
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